Kogasa Tatara
"Just what are we youkai, anyway?" General Information Kogasa Tatara is a karakasa obake whose sole purpose is to surprise people. However, she hasn't been very successful so far. She encounters the heroine on their way to catch up with the flying object on a mission to scare her, but it doesn't work. She was once a normal umbrella in the outside world; forgotten by her owner, and no one else claimed her because the color was unpopular at the time. As time went on, the wind swept her away to Gensokyo and she became a youkai. According to her profile in Undefined Fantastic Object, she is currently reading up on classic ghost stories in order to improve her scaring technique. Personality As stated in ZUN's Undefined Fantastic Object music comments, Kogasa is a cheery happy youkai, but gets easily depressed when things don't go her way (which is very often), typically when she fails to surprise someone despite her best efforts. She stated she wishes for vengeance on humans for being discarded in Undefined Fantastic Object. However, she's actually quite friendly to humans and her vengeance doesn't go beyond surprising and spooking humans. She gets genuinely pleased when she successfully surprises someone (or thinks she successfully surprised someone). She despises not being taken seriously. She often attacks the protagonist in Undefined Fantastic Object in a fit of despair when she thinks they're making fun of her. She's displeased with children liking her eccentric design. Kogasa suffers from self-esteem problems, as she is easily pushed into lamenting about wondering what her purpose is, or that she might be better off if she just went back to being an umbrella. Perhaps due to this, Kogasa is seeking a true purpose of existence for youkai, tsukumogami, and herself. She attempted this by starting a career in babysitting (which did not seem to go very well), surprising people (which also isn't going very well, though she's found some success in the Myouren Temple graveyard), and was even considering going back to being an umbrella just so she can be useful in that regard. She's stated that she's trying to imagine what humans want, and then plans on becoming that something they can use. Deep down, it appears this pitiable illegally dumped object and troubled forgotten item just wants to be desired. Abilities Kogasa's ability to surprise humans does not appear to be an actual ability beyond what anyone could do, but it's her prime occupation. Kogasa's observed attempts to surprise anyone hasn't really consisted of much more than her screaming "Boo!" or simply attacking someone if pressed. It is the same ability that Chen has without shikigami (ability to the extent of surprising people), so just like with Chen, it might not be an ability of any substance. Also, there doesn't seem to be any humans that have recently come to be surprised, and whatever she does, it is like it is still trial and error. So far, in the things she said in the game, it has come off as more cute than surprising. Hatate Himekaidou notes that she hides in the darkness to attempt to surprise people, but her hiding places are obvious. Hieda no Akyuu describes her attempts as child's play, to the point where the greater "threat" from her is how bothersome it can be to deal with her after she gets depressed by her failure to surprise someone. It's sometimes better to just pretend to be surprised in order to please her. Considering this, maybe Kogasa is unable to discern between genuine and fake shock, despite how she feeds by surprising people. It is unknown if a person pretending to be surprised provides her with any sustenance, although it does make her happy. However, Kogasa seems to have some interesting interactions with the fourth wall, such as: her stated failure to defeat Yoshika Miyako in Ten Desires due to a "time out"; her appearance on the Undefined Fantastic Object CD saying "Surprise", despite being stated by ZUN to not be involved with the story. Her appearance as the Undefined Fantastic Object extra-stage mid-boss despite not having any relation to the story, which comes complete with a "Surprise!" sound effect to hammer the point home (the only extra-stage mid-boss in the series with no real involvement in the story), and dropping the first full power-up in Ten Desires ''upon her defeat. It is unknown if this is an in-story canon ability or just an out-of-story running gag. Story According to Kogasa's conversation with Sanae in ''Undefined Fantastic Object, as far as Kogasa could tell, she was an umbrella that was thrown out by her original owner because her design was a little off. Eventually, she was blown away with the wind. Unwanted and undesired, the divine spirit residing within the umbrella became angered after being abandoned. Hoping to get back at the human that threw her out, Kogasa became a youkai. She then (badly) modified her own appearance to look more ferocious and youkai-like, and her quest for revenge on humanity (by surprising them!) had begun. It is unknown when Kogasa was first abandoned as an umbrella to become a tsukumogami. However, she's expressed to Reimu how she misses the old days when youkai ruled the night, and when even slightly surprising a person made them unable to walk straight. Reimu finds her "old-time" stories uninteresting, and Marisa Kirisame comments that Kogasa is "really behind the times." This would imply that Kogasa has been around for a long time. Kogasa's role in Undefined Fantastic Object is rather limited. In Stage 2, she appears twice, trying to surprise the heroine, who doesn't particularly want anything to do with her, as she is slowing her pursuit of the flying object. They engage in a high-speed aerial battle that inevitably ends with Kogasa's defeat and the heroine's arrival at the flying object. Also inevitably, she misinterprets what the heroine says as the answer to how to surprise humans. She returns in the extra stage under the assumption that it being night is enough to scare humans, and is defeated once again by the heroine. As such, she is the only character that is completely unrelated to the story in Undefined Fantastic Object, as well as the only unrelated character to be in an Extra Stage. Relationships Yoshika Miyako Yoshika's presence in the cemetery became a threat for Kogasa. Flandre, Koishi, and Nue Kogasa is a fan of those three. It's unknown if they even know her. Category:Chaos Coterie Member Category:Heroes Category:Former Villain Category:Stage Two Boss